The State of alpha inquisitor

Hi first off i would like to say congrats to Neocore for taking the plunge in making a 40k ARPG.

I have had the alpha build for almost a week now and i have to say I'm very worried, after watching videos of pre alpha footage I was sold this game was going to be epic but since playing the alpha build I have to say very disappointed it looks and feels like a very washed down version of what you guys have been show casing... Please dont make the same mistake as D3, having an epic looking and playing pre alpha build only to hand out a very low key watered down full release like some backyard developers ripped off your game and produced some crap on their 486s to grab a bit cash....

The detail and handling on alpha are no where near on par with what you guys have been showing us pre alpha. The missions are very copy paste.

Scenery is quite bland and repetitive. Enemies are the same almost constantly. Frame rates are shocking. skill tree, UI and sub menus are horrific and more which I really cant be bothered going into because I'm sure you would be very well aware of unless you are not getting any hands on with your own game.

Look I know its alpha and changes are coming but from what I have been playing it seems there are some much needed overhauls to be conducted to bring this game up to standards of this day and age and I really hope you guys don't drop the ball this one because it seems (ESPECIALLY) from pre alpha footage this game can really stand out and be something to invest time and money into from years to come.

I wish you Neocore the best but I have reservations to what this game might become and sorry but if I feel it doesn't deliver to what pre alpha shows I will be getting a full refund . Bit tired of developers not giving what they show off. half arsing to get a product out the gate......

I feel you may have overlooked the purpose of a phased release and alpha testing. What we saw in early pre alpha footage was a demo version and not what was currently ready to be tested. Ergo the current alpha is not a reflection of what they have made but what is currently stable. If you think the current alpha is bare consider yourself lucky you didn't join two months ago. Sounds like you were expecting a beta though.

Admittedly I agree with some of what you have put about maps being bland etc and enemies not being varied but I don't think you can complain about placeholder skill trees and poor optimisation within an early alpha, optimisation will be done when the game is finished as is standard practice in alphas and placeholders are also equally commonplace within early builds. The reason the game currently isn't advertised or marketed at all is because we are here to test features, not to be dazzled.

Having seen this comment (comparing to old footage) a couple of times, can I ask what you think is missing? - The only stuff I can see different to the old footage is a lack of lighting effects / shadows (not implemented yet) in addition to the decapitation feature (also not implemented yet) otherwise its got a lot more than what was previously showcased and I can't understand the disappointment.

Just curious but did you see the roadmap before it was taken down? - It kinda emphasises what is to come before release, which imho is really why they need to put it back up asap (updated version) because it shows just how little we are currently playing compared to what is in the actual game.

Rest assured having spent a lot of time talking with the staff, this won't be an EC / Deathwing scenario. - If they wanted to milk us for money and give a half baked game this would be open access on steam already. The haven't done that for the pure reason that there would be lots more threads like this :D

TLDR - Open your heart to neocore and worship the mighty devs! - Game content is coming out at a steady pace.

lighting effects had been included in the demo (Lighting hasn't been added to the alpha yet)

The weapon abilities weren't placeholder in the old video but fuck me they looked bad anyway, as did the UI.

Thus the only thing that needs to be done to reach the first videos standard is "turning the lights off" :D

As we are about 1/5th of the way through the alpha and the release isn't for months I feel like your paranoia is healthy, but a little unnecessary. If weeks before release it looks like this then fair enough, but take a look through my channels old footage to current, you can clearly see each patch the game makes a marked improvement in both aesthetics and combat :) - FYI that valrak footage was of the first 2 days of the alpha, we have since seen several huge overhauls since that.

finally if you are expecting "a few tweaks" - here is what to expect on final release

oh and a campaign, new enemy types, more skill trees, some voice acting, more music, bosses, champions, possible raid content (possible) vehicle combat, eeeeetc. :) (this is all subject to change tho as clearly the last roadmpa was taken down to make adjustments)

It's all good I'm not losing any sleep over it. just a little worried as I said before I have been stung before with alphas and betas not living up to what was showed off, D3, Eternal crusade to name a few just hoping Neocore don't go down that same path very interested in the concept they are bringing to the table and once again hope they don't drop the ball on this one!

PS the footage is very different visually and the way it handles I really can't understand how your eyes cant see that maybe look closer pay more attention to the details lighting textures background modelling there is a substantial difference.

Pre alpha, how can I say seems like it has more pazzaz. I'm still playing the alpha giving it fair go seeing and understanding how it works I'm not a aggro troll, I have some hopes just not holding my breath and again hope Neocore nail it and I respect your support to their premiss.

There are a few death animations and enemy animations that are working in the demo, that are currently bugged/borked in the alpha which makes combat seem a lot more fluid. Re the character animations of that old footage tho "shudders" the way he swings a sword is stomach churning-ugly :D Otherwise texture wise for me at least I can only see differences in terms of shading really and not the textures themselves. It could be that currently we only have "high" textures enabled and there is an ultra setting that isn't currently enabled and I did to go the opticians this morning and am awaiting new glasses :D

Keep the sceptical mind tho bro, we need people asking questions and worrying tbh. Keeps the devs accountable. Just wanted to give you some reassurance.

I got burned in the EC founder's program as well, so I see where you are coming from. However, unlike EC, this game has a solid roadmap(didn't realize its down at the moment) and major content/improvements come with each update. Many buy in here not realizing that this is an Alpha Test, not a near completed game. As Airsick pointed out, you just got here and haven't seen the evolution of the alpha that those of us who started at the beginning have. We are still only testing a fraction of the final release content. Hopefully the new roadmap will be up soon, and then you can have a better idea of where things are now, and where they are going as the alpha progresses.

It's a fair point to be honest. But at the moment we have no reason to suspect that they won't deliver on the features demonstrated. They have stuck to their milestones thus far and pretty much everything that you feel is missing, we know to be in the works such as lighting, death animations, enemy physics, character animations, voice acting etc. But I really do feel you are overselling what I thought was actually some pretty bad looking demo footage with horrible melee animations and a combat pace somewhat similar to watching paint dry :D let's just put that down to personal preferences tho!

Now if, further down the line it's still of this quality. I'll join in with you and send some angry letters and remind them of the features they previously advertised :D but thus over the past two months far we have seen a pretty rapid state of change within the game. I think if you talk to most people who were here since the first week, not many if any of us are currently worried.

Agreed you have very good points the old footage in melee it seems better in its current state :)

I respect your optimism and I don't mean to be so negative especially that its in alpha. just raising concerns, not the first time (by far!) being burned imo by developers on washing down a game again in what I and a few of my family and friends see (hope we are going to be proven wrong)

PS love your youtube vids will be becoming a subscriber Keep up the good work :)

Yeah I didn't see roadmap.. I do feel bad about being negative and I do respect Neocore I want them to have great success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gybQfJoC38I but after watching this and playing current alpha I feel a little sceptical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWwwx_MlxBs this state of the game needs much improvement to reach the 1st videos standards I have been told it was just a demo which is fair enough. I just really hope the actual full release achieves the same standard or I will be very disappointed the current alpha has been a big let down for me and that"s my opinion!!! and if we end up with the current alpha just with a few tweaks and add ins on final release you can count me out that's all.. If others enjoy that I have no problems!!

I understand what an alpha is I have been part of quite a few my main problem is that the pre alpha footage and game play seems much nicer and more polished then the alpha we are testing currently as part of founder purchase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdVtEZAi3Wg this is what I thought we would get! then it be built on and improved and added too.

Instead latest version alpha (currently testing) is washed down version of go through corridor kill mobs into room kill more mobs, corridor again room again rinse and repeat over and over again.

All I'm saying is I cant really understand how an older build can look and feel and act better then the current version. Diablo 3 did this. Its alpha footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q17FDfU7-ds is sooo much cooler and more epic then the crap they dropped on us! why I don't know??? but it made a lot of the community and ppl who purchased pretty ticked off.

No offence to Neocore I really hope they dont go down this road :( and I respect peoples opinions and support. But for me and a lot of others we care when we are presented with something only to be let down. Its not right to be shown nice ripe apples then down the track given pears and told its pretty much the same thing but not as good just enjoy it!

I also wonder if an ultra high setting for textures is yet to be added into the game? - I've seen this before in some tests where early access only went to high but very high and ultra were added at a later date.

Sorry to sound so negative but I have been stung so many times from developers releasing things that are not up to scratch. I do understand this is very early alpha and so much is missing I am just worried that this build is going to be the staple point and just added to and tweaked over time, I feel that it still wont be good enough and very watered down on release which is very disappointing if so I just hope Neocore dont drop the ball and deliver what they show pre alpha.